Resource consumption of the passenger vehicle sector in Germany until 2035 – the impact of different drive systems

The annual crude oil demand for passenger cars in Germany can be reduced by 56 percent by 2035 compared to 2020 if the share of electric passenger cars in German registrations rises to 100 percent until then. These savings significantly exceed the consumption of fossil fuels such as natural gas, which are needed to cover the additional electricity demand of electric vehicles.

Assuming this scenario, the peak of primary metal consumption in the passenger car sector will already be reached around 2035. The key raw materials here are lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper for the lithium-ion batteries. The increasing secondary metal quotas, i.e. the use of recycled metals from traction batteries, in the coming years will also contribute to this. The consumption of platinum group metals - such as platinum, palladium, or rhodium - for car exhaust catalytic converters will also fall sharply in this case: to near zero in 2035.